Back in February 2017, Jamie sent me a message on Instagram to let me know that he’d built up his first bespoke bike. It was my first opportunity to see Tony Pereira and Ira Ryan’s work in person, so naturally, I was keen to check it out.
You’ll rarely spot a Breadwinner in Australia — there must only be a handful here — but after featuring numerous Pereira Cycles and a few by Ira Ryan on the pages of The Spoken over the years, it was a bit like meeting a distant family member for the first time.
The frame was everything I expected it to be: tight weld beads and superbly finished in silver with a matching Silca pump and personalized insignia in the paint work. Jamie himself was exceptionally happy with it and expectedly proud of it.
He had only just finished building it up himself, with a full Dura-Ace groupset, ENVE cockpit and seat mast, Brooks Cambium C13, and a HED Belgium+ wheelset with Chris King bearings. Portland perfection.
Jamie grew up on Sydney’s notoriously hilly Northern Beaches, riding the local mountain bike trails, and then spent some time living overseas and riding trails in the French Alps, so he likes the climbs.
He’s back living in Sydney and both his favoured rides and bikes have changed, now he prefers longer road rides and bikepacking — when time allows. After two carbon bikes, he was looking for a bike with more personality.
“What I really wanted,” he tells us, was a frame with “a threaded bottom bracket, custom geometry and just a more solid-feeling ride. I spoke with Ira over Skype and it was instantly apparent that he and Tony could deliver exactly what I wanted.”
Tony and Ira maintained a good communication channel and kept Jamie updated regularly with news of the build as they strived to get evry detail perfect — exactly what you want when investing in a custom frame.
He’s more than happy with the final result, and with the ride quality of the Lolo’s Columbus Spirit tubes. By all accounts it’s a sure-footed ride, both when climbing and descending, which is ideal for Jamie’s favorite routes.
There’s plenty of twisty uphills on Sydney’s North Shore, and Jamie’s favorite ride is the local loop around Bobbin Head and an epic windy descent down to Akuna Bay, where the compliance of the steel frame really comes to the fore.
And the fox insignia, applied by Colorworks in Eugene, Oregon? “I’m a bit of sucker for nicknames,” Jamie reveals, “having had many over the years being a redhead and all. My wife nicknamed me Red Fox a while back and I guess it just stuck.”
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